Yesterday, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders stated that President Donald Trump plans to meet with members from the video game industry to talk about violent games. This is due to last month’s shooting in Parkland, Florida that left 17 dead.

According to Sanders, “He’ll also be meeting with members of the video game industry to see what they can do on that front as well…” when the press asked questions regarding the President’s policy on firearms. President Trump has indicated last week that he believes that violent video games and movies are negatively impacted children.

According to the President:

“We have to look at the internet, because a lot of bad things are happening to young kids and young minds, and their minds are being formed, and we have to do something about maybe what they’re seeing and how they’re seeing it. And also video games. I’m hearing more and more people say the level of violence on video games is really shaping young people’s thoughts. And you go one further step and that’s the movies. You see these movies, and they’re so violent, a kid is able to see the movie if sex isn’t involved, but killing is involved, and maybe we need to put a rating system for that.”

I’m having trouble following his train of thought here, but we can all agree that something has to be done. We also can’t put the blame squarely on violence in the media, when powerful firearms are easily accessible, while as a society we ignore and stigmatize mental health issues, and then ignore multiple warnings that someone is threatening a school, which appears to be the case in Parkland, FL. Just pointing out the facts.

However, we should all be up for a dialogue, if it means protecting our children. Only problem with this supposed meeting with the Video Game industry is apparently that no one from the Video Game industry has been invited.

According to the ESA:

“ESA and our member companies have not received an invitation to meet with President Trump.

The same video games played in the US are played worldwide; however, the level of gun violence is exponentially higher in the US than in other countries. Numerous authorities have examined the scientific record and found there is no link between media content and real-life violence.

The US video game industry has a long history of partnering with parents and more than 20 years of rating video games through the Entertainment Software Rating Board. We take great steps to provide tools to help players and parents make informed entertainment decisions.”

Maybe the President has a meeting planned outside the of the ESA directly with some industry executives? I guess we will find out next week if this actually comes to be.

[Source: Kotaku]